After another strenuous and sweaty Flirty Girl Fitness workout, Holly, Steph, and I headed to Bar Hop for some delicious sustenance. I hadn’t eaten very much all day long, so I was in the mood for lots of good food! We had eyed this bar for a while now, especially after having seen it with such great reviews on Urbanspoon. Whenever we passed by it, their patio was always full of people. We even tried to get a table two weeks ago, but they were so busy that we would had had to wait 20 minutes to get seated. We chose not to wait since we were on a time limit and our stomachs wouldn’t allow us to wait much longer anyway. Today, we finally were lucky enough to get a table. The place was filled with lots of people already when we walked in at 7 p.m. The dimly lit space was loud and filled with lots of chatter all around.

Dieu Du Ciel! Aphrodisiac. 6.5%.Cocoa & vanilla stout. $7~.

Their drinks menu was extensive and covered a good majority of their menu with the last couple of pages meant for food. They have a rotating tap which meant that every time you visit the Bar Hop, the beer menu might be different. I chose the “Dieu Du Ciel! Aphrodisiac” since the description was of a “cocoa & vanilla stout”. To my surprise, it was a lot darker than I expected and I didn’t taste any cocoa or vanilla. Luckily, I am a fan of dark beers; although, this may be one of the darkest beers I’ve ever had. (Update: Silly me, the word “stout” actually means “dark beer”. I learned something new!)

Holly ordered the “Liefman’s Fruitesse”. It tasted exactly as the description sounded: a lot of fruity flavours and so much so that it didn’t taste like a beer but more than a cocktail. It was a really nice drink.

We ordered a slew of appetizers and mains to share and I ended up being the biggest glutton of the night since I was sharing all of the food with practically everybody lol. First, the appetizer “Smoked Chipotle Honey Wings” arrived. It was nicely presented (actually, all of the the food were) and the wings were extremely delicious. They were cooked perfectly and the meat was soft. Outside, the wings were covered in a smoky chipotle sauce that left a tinge of spice in your mouth. The fresh tomatoes and scallions were a nice touch and I especially loved the blue cheese that was in the sauce too. So delicious! :D This was my favourite dish of the whole night!

A female server dropped off what looked like potatoes at our table. She wasn’t our actual server but appeared to be the one serving food from the kitchen. We knew we had ordered the “Spicy Gumbo Poutine” but what we received on our table looked nothing like poutine even though there were potatoes in it. We dove into the plate anyway and found that it was extremely delicious as well! The potato bites was tremendously soft and chewy and the sour cream on the side as well as the beer braised onions that covered the plate were so yummy. It wasn’t until we had almost cleared this plate when our actual server arrived with a confused look on his face. In his hand was our actual plate of “Spicy Gumbo Poutine” as well as the “Smoked Duck Mac & Cheese”. We didn’t know what to say as we really thought the first dish what the poutine. He told us that the plate was actually perogies and that it wouldn’t be a problem. How very nice of him! It was silly of us to mistaken perogies as poutine, but at the time, we didn’t think to question or ask about what was dropped off at our table.

The “Smoked Duck Mac & Cheese” that Stephanie ordered was also out of this world! The mac & cheese was very, very creamy and cheesy; exactly what you’d expect mac & cheese to taste like. I was very impressed. The bottom of the pan was where the smoked duck pieces lay. The duck pieces weren’t that flavourful, but I wasn’t disappointed at all since the rest of the dish was amazing. The salad that accompanied the dish was also very fresh and refreshing.

The “Spicy Gumbo Poutine” what was Holly expected it to taste like: poutine with gumbo. I thought that the gumbo wasn’t nearly as spicy as the Smoked Chipotle Chicken Wings were. I liked that there were huge blocks of Gruyère cheese in the poutine. There were two huge tiger shrimps that Holly and I shared. I also liked how there were juicy tomatoes and carrots in the poutine as well.

Spicy Gumbo PoutineRusset frites, Gruyère cheese, tiger shrimp. $12.The picture to the right is what the dish looked like when it arrived. The one to the left is when we started feeling full already. Food overload!

Due to the mishap of getting more food than we had ordered and getting it on the house, we made sure to tip our friendly server extra well. I really, really enjoyed our experience at the Bar Hop and now I understand why they are so popular all the time. Their food is excellent; probably the best and most memorable pub food I’ve had and their selection of beer is incredible. Their service, needless to say, is also superior. Well done, Bar Hop! :)